Overview
- Hisamatsu Takeo, appointed Tuesday as festival director, returns to the role he held from 2017 to 2021.
- Outgoing chair Ando Hiroyasu will step down on May 31 after a tenure that began in 2019.
- The 39th edition runs Oct. 26–Nov. 4 in Tokyo’s Hibiya–Yurakucho–Marunouchi–Ginza district, with submissions open on the festival website through July 7.
- Companion market TIFFCOM is scheduled for Oct. 28–30, giving producers and buyers a dedicated space for rights deals during the festival.
- Hisamatsu pledged to deepen TIFF’s cultural value and support the film business, building on Ando’s venue shift and programming overhaul that preceded last year’s 1,970 submissions from 108 countries and a Tokyo Grand Prix win for Annemarie Jacir’s Palestine 36.